Rania Kroupi In her shoes

She studied Economics followed by an MBA and she worked for many years in Italy. Further, she held the position of the director in a multinational fashion and luxury items company. Her love for shoes, however, soon led her to studies on designing shoes, to many places including the Central Saint Martins in London. Today, Rania Kroupi has her own brand of luxurious handmade shoes, named Rania Kroupi Luxury Shoes, and we do love every creation of hers!

With Rania Krupi we have some common secrets… We were classmates and good friends in the primary school. We were both diligent and had a view on everything since then – which we did not really hesitate to express. We both did initial studies on a subject different from our current profession. Personal style has always been of keen interest to us, we love traveling, we have worked for years in Milan, we have taken important positions in big companies and we arrived just after our 40s to do each of us our own business venture, which we, by chance, housed in the Karytsi Square, in the centre of Athens. We had parallel lives but no communication for many years. So, when I learned that in a street behind our office is the atelier Rania Kroupi, which has been the subject of discussion between the stylish women of the city and the professionals in our field who are really involved with fashion and style, I could not but visit her, along with my beauty & style editor, Alexandra Tryfonos. The elegant atelier and the taste and creations of Rania have impressed me from the very first moment. So, once I walked in, all I said to her was: “I’d like to have some coffee, these black pumps with the snake, size 38, and please tell us everything right from the beginning!

I remember you having, ever since you were a child, a clear view on style.
Since I remember myself, I had developed a sense of style, dressing, combinations and, later, fashion. I will say that I was just born this way. In the primary school I detested the formal school dress, but I certainly had found the most beautiful one to accept to wear it. I still remember it, blue with a velvet tie, cuffs and collar (I confirm it, too!) Since I was little, I had a radical behaviour. I was such a good schoolgirl, that at some point I decided in the school not to wear the formal school dress because I felt that it diminished the individual style expression. At the same age, in the summer, on the big underground storage room of my grandfather’s house in Elafonisos, I had discovered a lot of clothes… And then at noon when we were supposed to take a nap, I was preparing fashion shows instead, I chose outfits, I gave haircuts to my models, cousins ​​and neighbours, I did their styling and I had them do a catwalk in order to spend our time creatively! But I always had a special love for shoes. My muse was my mum’s super elegant sister, who was traveling and doing shopping in all over the world, and I was fascinated with the fabrics, the textures and the shoes that she was giving me. Later, I found myself in the heart of fashion, in Italy, I travelled a lot, acquired a variety of experiences and for 13 years I was the director, in charge of two countries, in a multinational fashion and luxury items company. At the same time, I did shoe design courses at Central Saint Martins in London and elsewhere.